Her eyes met mine. “He died in a car accident. We were in the car, and…”
I didn’t push her. “I’m so sorry.”
The flashing lights around her started to fade. “I miss him so much.”
As much as I hated to do this, I had to test my suspicions. So I took a deep breath and, on the exhale, asked an insensitive question. “Did your father like Jamie?”
Willow’s eyes glowed fiercely and the lightshow intensified around her again. Her long hair whipped over her face and the scattered folders on my desk savagely flew off and hit the floor.
“I’m sure Jamie misses you too, but he wouldn’t want you to be in so much pain,” I whispered, trying to help her get control of the situation.
She nodded and the computer flicked off. The overhead lights left us in the overcast gloom, and the boy hovering behind her disappeared entirely, followed closely by the dog. Willow’s hair dropped back down to her shoulders and tears glistened in her eyes before sliding down her cheeks.
This is crazy.
Surely she shouldn’t be able to switch from lightshow and back to normal so quickly?
“Willow, are you okay?”
She touched her face. “Why am I crying?”
“You don’t remember what happened?” This was interesting.
She shook her head. “I—I’m here because I wanted to meet you. We’re half-sisters and I was hoping you could help me figure out what’s wrong with me.”
“What makes you think something’s wrong?”
Willow licked her lips. “Sometimes I see things, and I zone out too.”
“And you don’t remember anything that happened while you zone out?”
She shook her head again. “I just did it again, didn’t I?”
“Willow, is Jamie one of the things you see out of the corner of your eye?”
She looked at me, surprised. “Yes, he is. How did you know about him?”
“I don’t know how this happened, or even how it’s possible, but it looks like you’ve got several poltergeists attached to you. They seem to manifest when you get angry or upset.” It was too soon to pry about why the mention of her father prompted such a severe reaction. And after testing the theory, I certainly didn’t want her to go there again.
“What do you mean by poltergeists?” Her eyes were wide as she looked around the office. “I remember watching the movie, but how can I have one attached to me? It doesn’t make any sense. Do you know what’s wrong with me? Does it have something to do with me dying so many times?”
She threw too many questions at me and I couldn’t answer them yet. I’d encountered plenty of poltergeists, but they were usually the mischievous spirits of dead teens or children. I’d never seen anything like this before, but just like the poltergeist phenomena, her reaction stemmed from strong emotional responses.
“I don’t know why or how this happened to you, but it has.” I was glad the charged energy was gone. “But I’m going to help you figure it out.”
“Really?” She looked so young and hopeful.
“Yes.”
“Thank you, I knew meeting you was the right thing to do.” A small, apologetic smile curved her lips but the sadness lingered in her eyes.
“There’s just one problem,” I said.
“What’s that?”
“I’m going to have to ask you a bunch of questions you might not want to answer.” I paused to let that sink in. “Do you think you can handle it?”
Willow was thoughtful for a moment before she said, “Yeah, I can.”
“Good.” I hoped that
I
could handle this, because only a messy situation—or situations—could have put her in this position. The first thing I needed to confirm was how she’d gotten this condition, though I was pretty sure it was an inherited curse.
I felt bad for her, and could certainly relate to receiving a gift disguised as a nuisance.
She sat quietly in the chair, looking around.
“So, where are you staying?”
“Huh?”
I pointed at her bursting backpack. “You’ve got a whole bunch of stuff packed in there.”
“Oh,” she said, hugging it to her chest and reminding me of Lavie’s peculiar habit. Except, I was certain this girl wasn’t stowing any severed demonic body parts. “Yeah, I’m staying with a friend.”
“I’m glad.” I probably wouldn’t have offered her a place to stay just yet, but it struck me as weird that she hadn’t made a day trip for our meeting. There was certainly something strange going on with her father, but now wasn’t the time to find out. “Look, I don’t want to overload you with prying questions, so how about you pop back in here tomorrow and we’ll get started? We can meet at…four. How’s that sound?”
“Okay, sure, that sounds good.” She instantly shot to her feet and placed the backpack straps around her shoulders. “I’ll be back tomorrow afternoon.”
“Great.” I extended my hand and she shook it. “I look forward to seeing you again.” As hard as I tried not to make this feel like a business transaction, it kinda did.
“I’ve got a bit of money, so I can pay you for—”
“No, I won’t take your money.” This might feel reminiscent of the cases I usually dealt with, but I wasn’t taking money from a confused kid who also happened to be my half-sister.
“Are you sure? I don’t want you to think I’m taking advantage of you.”
“I know you’re not.”
“Thank you.” Willow flashed a pretty smile and headed for the door. She stopped just outside, turned and said, “I’m really glad I found you. I’ve always wanted a sister and you’re even better than I imagined.”
I smiled back and felt a warm glow inside. She might come with a few otherworldly problems, but who didn’t have some kind of baggage nowadays? “I’ll see you tomorrow, Willow.”
She strolled out the door and I turned back to my office.
After picking up the folders and stacking them where they belonged, I decided there was no way I would get any work done now. Besides, it was almost time to meet Papan in the city.
I shut the window, put on my mostly-dry jacket and made sure my dagger was still secured between sock and boot. I loaded up with keys, wallet, and phone before heading for the door, wishing Oren would hurry up and teach me the incantation to make my pockets deeper than they really were.
After closing the door behind me, I made sure it was locked before rushing for the stairs. I might have walked into my office in a morose mood, but I was now filled with a sense of hopeful energy.
I’d helped poltergeists before without being able to see them. I could handle this for my sister.
Wow, it feels good to say sister.
As soon as I stepped out of the building, I smacked right into someone. When strong arms wrapped tightly around my midsection, I struggled to squirm out of the vice-like grip.
Oh crap, not again!
Being unique isn’t always what it’s cracked up to be.
Long Shadows
© 2014 Cecilia Dominic
The Lycanthropy Files, Book 2
By day, Lonna Marconi’s busy career keeps her mind off the fact she was turned werewolf against her will. By night, a dose of wolfsbane lets her inner wolf out to play while her physical body stays safe at home.
When an overheard phone call at work warns her a trap is about to be sprung, she turns from hunter to hunted in the blink of an eye.
She finds refuge with the Ozarks pack she never claimed as her own. Upon discovering a family secret that explains why she’s unique among her own kind, Lonna finds heat in the arms of Max, who’s the one thing she cannot trust—a wizard.
Another kidnapping attempt sends her navigating the treacherous metaphysical borders of a centuries-old war, pursued by rogue sorcerers, a band of ghostly wolves, and repressed memories that prevent her from reclaiming her heritage. All the while, trusting her back to a wizard who demands the price of her heart…and who may not have the luxury of giving his in return.
Warning: Some sexy scenes, adult language, and alcohol consumption. Also descriptions of Italian food that might offend carbophobes.
Enjoy the following excerpt for
Long Shadows:
I hadn’t physically changed since the first time six months before. Then, in a trance, I had opened the front door to my apartment, taken off my clothes, and changed into a wolf with the world watching. Okay, not quite the world. It was pretty late, and my apartment complex was quiet. Since then, I had shadow-walked with the aid of the aconite, which caused me to create an astral projection of my wolf self rather than physically change. Somehow I could still eat what I hunted, and I hoped that wouldn’t translate into bad blood work. Who knew how much wild critters would raise one’s cholesterol? A stupid concern, I know, considering everything else. It’s funny what the mind latches on to.
Now I sat in the living room at Joanie’s and Leo’s house with them, all of us wrapped in sheets, as we waited for the moon to rise and for its light to sing in our blood. We could change without it, but it was easier in its light, which compelled us when it was full. I suppressed the urge to giggle at the sight, like we were at the most boring toga party ever. Joanie caught my eye, and her lips twitched like she thought the same.
The moon rose, its light spilling through the bank of windows.
“It’s time,” Joanie murmured.
My inner wolf stretched and yawned, unfurling to her full spiritual presence.
“We can change?
she asked.
Really change?”
“Yes, just be gentle with me.”
Again I stuffed the urge to laugh. I hadn’t said those words in a really long time.
I gasped when my human spirit shrank. The sensation was that of hurtling down a long hallway, then landing in a warm pool and expanding within it to fill a new shape. The inner wolf and I became one. I heard tendons snapping and bones cracking in new arrangements and suspected I would be sore the next day.
“Not sore. Strong and healthy and whole. We are one.”
“We can’t be one. I am not a wolf.”
But I was. I shook the sheet off and looked around with new eyes. Although my senses were heightened in human form now that I had these new abilities, in wolf form, they were almost painfully acute. The moonlight through the windows had been beautiful and cool—now it sparkled on the floor and every surface with opalescence that made me want to run and yip and bathe in its light. The forest beyond the windows beckoned with a thousand scents and rustlings and scurryings, each one of which begged to be investigated.
A light nip to my shoulder brought me back to myself, and I shifted my weight so I stood evenly on all four paws. Leo, a black wolf, sat and looked at me, his tongue lolling in amusement. Joanie, a petite brown wolf who could probably pass for one of the Arkansas red wolves, had nipped me.
“You were quivering like you were ready to explode with the sensations of it all,”
she said telepathically.
“It’s different from when we shadow-walk,”
I responded. “
I feel heavier but more powerful.”
“Do you remember anything of the first time? When Iain and I chased after you?”
“Only that I wanted to get away and be free. And Gabriel…”
A low growl from Leo halted that line of conversation. Not that I blamed him. Gabriel had tried to claim Joanie first.
“Moonlight’s wasting, girls,”
he said but waited for Joanie to lead us out of the house through a—
oh, the shame!
—doggie door in the mud room.
“It was the easiest solution,”
Joanie told me once we were through. I heard the wry smile in her voice.
Once we were fully in the moonlight, the dry brown grass under my paws, I didn’t care that we’d been relegated to the status of mere
canis domesticus
or whatever the hell regular dogs were. I chased after her, nipping at her flank, and she mock-growled at me. We tumbled and tussled before I drew back.
“The baby! I’m sorry.”
“It’s all right,”
she reassured me with a canine grin at Leo.
“He’s done worse.”
“And that’s all I need to know.”
I trotted to the edge of the woods and smelled pigeons and squirrels and deer and all manner of things that seemed to taunt me.
“When do we hunt?”
It came out as a vocal whine.
“When Matthew arrives.”
Leo looked around, his ears perked.
“He should have been here by now.”
“Maybe he got delayed by something? Too much traffic on the road, perhaps, or the cubs wanting to come with him?”
The image of the playful pups didn’t dispel the concern in Joanie’s mental voice, and I remembered Matthew saying they never hunted alone anymore.
Leo paced back and forth on the lawn.
“He said he’d be on time.”
A gunshot rang out, and all of us sat up, ears swiveling back and forth.
“What the hell was that?”
I asked.
“Okay, I know what it was, but what was it?”
Human logical processes weren’t exactly working well, but they knew what I meant.